Wait – What Did I Do Wrong?

This Lion sure seems angry at me – but this was actually a picture my wife Alex took just as the Lion looked into the sun – yes, he’s just squinting!

If you have been following along, you know that Alex and I took a “once in a lifetime” African safari in July. We saw some incredible sights, like these two Lions relaxing right in the middle of the road!

This is a look at some of the dozens of stories I am going to share, because spending time in the wild – where the animals roam free – was a life-changing experience for us.

We started at Singita Boulders at Sabi Sands in South Africa, located on the Sand river…then headed to the Ker & Downey Dinaka lodge in Botswana:, where we were “dazzled!”

A “Dazzle” Of Zebra!

The lodge had a small pond out front, and one afternoon it was taken over by Zebra!

A group of zebras is most notably called a dazzle or a zeal, though a herd is also a common and acceptable term. The term “dazzle” may come from the disorienting effect their stripes create when they are in a large group, while “zeal” reflects their spirited nature.  

It was at Dinaka that we had the two Lions block our road…it turns out the animals love the roads as they are easier to walk on than the scrub brush around the edges…

We then moved on to the Wilderness Qorokwe Lodge in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, where we immediately came across a restless Cougar:

I have said before that there are virtually no fences of any kind – the animals roam free, and each private lodge has an anti-poaching team working to keep the animals safe…we are the ones relegated to sitting in a jeep and watching them roam freely…

That included watching a herd of Elephants grazing right in front of our room!

We then flew to Little Duma Tao, located on the Linyanti River in Botswana – where we were literally stuck on the “elephant Superhighway” for an hour!

The “Elephant Superhighway!”

You see, when a herd of Elephants emerges out of the bush to graze, our Jeep has to pull over and wait until they leave – they do NOT like having anything or anyone too close, so we monitored their movement and stayed still. Here’s some cool video!

After seeing more Elephants and Hippos than ever before, we headed to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe in a plane THIS SMALL!

Yes, that’s the plane we flew – it sat 4 people total! I have shared some stories already – the links are below – and there are so many more to tell…here’s what coming next!

Noisy Lions!

We saw SO MANY LIONS…some relaxing on the road like this, and one noisy one looking for something and we are glad it wasn’t us – take a look!

We were always amazed at how close the animals got to us!

And it was also amazing how gorgeous every sunset was…here is one example from our boat on the Linyanti River:

And I will share one of the most serene and uplifting moments of our entire trip:

The Serenity Of A Mokoro Canoe Ride…

At Wilderness Qorokwe in the Okavango delta, we went on a Mokoro canoe ride, and it’s magical…here’s a sneak peek:

I will be rolling these stories out over the next month – and will be posting links to longer video documentaries we shot as well. We are both TV Producers after all!

I shared a look at some of the most beautiful African sunsets we experienced…see them here:

As you can see, our safari adventure was the “trip of a lifetime” – thanks to so many animals like these Hippos!

Yes, this guy was excited to see us! See more of our Hippo adventure here:

So much to share from our “trip of a lifetime”…from Lions and Zebra to Giraffes – oh, and Baboons sitting in a field:

And, oh, and remember when we stumbled upon this?

Yes, this was our second Leopard encounter and you can see them both here!

And as I showed you, one of the most magical aspects of a safari were the incredible sunsets – which ended with a traditional “boma” celebration like this:

Here’s more of the history of this traditional celebration here:

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Categories: Africa, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, safari, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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